Humesan M

Very poor overall experience and significant damages

I used moving 24 to get quotations and EFI were one of the companies to quote. Their price wasn't the cheapest, but their initial timeous responses, good communication and most importantly the net positive reviews led me to go with them. My move was from Johannesburg to Durban. First sign of a warning was a significant decline on communication, once the deposit was paid. What was very concerning was when I followed up on the week of the move to confirm that everything was in order, I received no response until 2 days later and the reasoning was that they had not been in the office since Friday; however, I tried all numbers on the invoice and that I could find online and none were answered or returned. On the day of the move, they arrived approximately 5 hours later than communicated. I was following up the whole time and was just given empty promises as they double booked 2 moves on the day. When they did arrive, there was only 2 guys that came with a small truck. I fully conveyed the extent of furniture and was very clear on the body corporate rules and accessibility. I ended up having to assist with carrying the furniture to get it done quicker. The guys dropped my fridge, s****ped, dented and broke a lot of furniture due to over packing and rushing as they were late. When they finally admitted what I told them before they even started, that my furniture is not going to fit in the truck they arranged for the big truck to come through to load instead of transporting to and fro. They ended up making 3 loads to to the bigger truck all while off-loading my furniture on the road while transporting back and forth. The body corporate wanted to issue a fine as they ended being over 3 hours past the allocated moving time. The delay caused me to book into accommodation for the night as it was too late to drive. When they arrived at the drop off location they did not come with a shuttle truck so that had to be arranged on demand even though this was communicated during the quotation stage. I wasn't at home to supervise as I was still on the road back to Durban. I had family at home to receive and they explained the shuttle vehicle was a basically a van that looked like it had been transporting fresh produce. It was also raining and the time. Whilst transporting from the vehicle they once again over packed on a rush. This led to further damages, they also dropped my day bed onto the road whilst transporting it on the Van, permanently damaging the inside wooden frame. I was also forced to pay the remainder before they commenced offloading so I couldn't wait to until I arrived to supervise. When I did arrive there had already left and I found the state of my furniture was in a very poor and dirty condition. Also, I identified a hole through the back of my fridge. I communicated the list of damages and my dissatisfaction with EFI and how'd they propose to remedy the situation. They just red the message and did not send any further communication to date. The only recourse is for me to pursue legal action, however that would come with it's own costs, time and challenges. My reason for this review is to create awareness for future people to not end up in my shoes. Whilst there's a good few positive reviews, my experience felt like their behaviour was the norm not the exception so I genuinely believe that this isn't the company to consider and hope you fair better with anyone else. This isn't a professional moving company nor one that you should trust with your possessions.